Winds of Absolution
by Ithilas
Summary: MovieVerse There will always be something that can't be controlled. And the Sparks that the Allspark held were one of those things.
1. Chapter 1

Winds of Absolution

"So this is where you have been." A deep voice commented in the nursery where a newborn, only a few hours old lay in the hospital supplied crib. "You had the Allspark concerned for your welfare, but I see that you left of your own accord."

Gurgling happily at the large humanoid robot standing next to his crib, the infant gave a toothless grin when a metallic finger rubbed softly against the silky skin of his cheek. A faint shimmering began to appear on the opposite side of the crib, its light growing in intensity until the glow faded, leaving a young transformer in its place. "Primus." He said quietly, his blue tipped wings twitching behind him in agitation. "How is the Allspark?"

"Her Spark is fading quickly, and a new container for her power must be found before it does fade." Primus answered, crossing his arms over his chest plating as he spoke. "But then I believe you were already aware of that particular dilemma, weren't you lost Spark?"

"Cybertron is lost to us." The flier admitted softly, his hand rising to retract the visor shielding his sightless blue optics. "At least this way I am able to ensure that your children will find a new home and will have a future."

"He will find you."

"He would find the new host no matter who is chosen." The younger mech replied. "At least this way I will have gained an opportunity to know my Creators, whereas before there was no chance of my Spark ever leaving."

"And there is nothing I can say that will dissuade you from this path you've chosen?"

"Why would you want to dissuade me?" The young transformer asked, his voice reflecting genuine curiosity. "It is an honor to even be considered for this. Had any of the other Sparks succeeded in their attempts to leave, they would tell you the same. His time to be called to rest has arrived, and I would be beyond honored if you allowed me to be the one to help our people find a new time of peace beyond the surface of Cybertron."

"Very well, sparkling." Primus conceded with a defeated sigh as blue optics lit up in triumph. "But if I am to do this, you will need to return your Spark back into its casing."

Watching silently as the flier left in the same manner in which he had arrived; Primus let loose a weary sigh. "You say that to become the Allspark is an honor, or that to even be considered is one as well." Primus murmured, his hand pulling a small cube covered in glyphs from subspace. "But in all honesty, it is _you_ who honors _me_ by choosing to take action in the manner that you did. There are not many others who would have seen and chosen to act for the good of others rather than for the benefits that such power could grant them."

Pressing the cube gently against the soft skin of the sleeping infant, Primus remained silent as the cube slowly allowed itself to be absorbed into the fragile skin. As the cube disappeared from sight, metallic lines began to spread out from the point of absorption creating an intricate array of tattoos matching the ones that had decorated the cube before fading in the same manner in which they had appeared. A wave of energy pulsed from the infant alerting all of those who held Sparks and were on the planet to its presence. Optics shuttered closed as Primus brushed his hand lightly over the tiny head of the newborn, his head bowing slightly as he whispered quietly to the infant before leaving.

"Forgive me for giving you this burden and for allowing you to believe that it is an honor when I know that for a time it will be anything but. I can only hope that when the time comes for us to meet again that you will not hold this against me, young one."

NcN

Days, weeks, even months after that day in Mission City and Sam would swear that all he remembered as he pressed the Allspark into Megatron's Spark casing was the feeling of burning pain and the blinding light that radiated outwards. The minutes that he'd spent talking with the ageless being wouldn't be mentioned until nearly a year after the fact when he was forced to accept the conversation that had taken place in those few seconds of time.

He chose to keep the details of the conversation close to his heart and with every fiber of his being had intended on taking the unmentioned conversation to his grave with him rather than speak of it to anyone else. But it seemed as though no matter how hard he tried to ignore the words that had been spoken so softly to him; with those vivid blue eyes staring piercingly into what felt like his soul, they seemed to follow behind him like a puppy would.

"You are not yet ready to accept what I offer to you and that which you have already sworn to do." Sweat beaded on his forehead as Sam tossed fitfully in the confines of his blankets as he slept and revisited the day he destroyed both Megatron and the Allspark. "But know that there will come a time when you will be driven to acceptance and when that time arrives, I shall await your decision. My Creations believe me gone, and only you will know otherwise my chosen child." Even in dreams Sam could still see the brief flare of pain that had illuminated those ancient eyes as the being spoke the last words he could remember being uttered.

"The Chaos Bringer returns and much that you hold dear to your Spark will be ripped from you. I pray to Primus that the light you hold within is enough to light the way for my Creations."

NcN

"I still believe that you should tell them before you do this."

Glancing down at the metal cube held tightly in his hands as he crept through the darkened base, Sam shook his head as he replied to the voice. "I can't." He whispered softly, his hands tightening unconsciously around the cube. "What would I tell them? That I'm going to die because I went running with you at Mission City? Or maybe that I'm housing a Spark that by all rights shouldn't even exist?"

"They deserve to know." The voice persisted, its firm tones echoing in Sam's head as the teen came to a stop in front of the empty med bay. "They cannot stop what we both know will happen, but at least they would be better prepared to deal with the aftermath of the consequences for your choices."

"I won't let them blame themselves." Fingers entering the override code for the med bay, Sam glanced down at his watch taking careful note of the time, knowing that he had only minutes before Ratchet would make his way down to the med bay to check on the intrusion. "Regardless of what the both of us know is going to happen, they wouldn't stop until they found some way to fix it…to fix me."

"Youngling…"

"It's better this way." Sam insisted stubbornly, his brown eyes darting around the med bay as he stealthily made his way to the berth concealed by the curtain partitioning. "I made a promise that I would do this, and I'll be damned if I don't keep it.

"I would apologize," The voice admitted quietly to Sam as the cube in the teen's arms began to glow softly, the lines etched in its surface becoming brought into prominence by the light, "but I do not believe that an apology is adequate for what we have all asked of you."

"Hey, I told you that I'd do it. The only regret I have is not being able to tell my parents." Sam replied as he ducked beneath the curtain hung around the solitary berth in the med bay, intricate lines beginning to form on the surface of his skin. "Besides you didn't really ask anything that I hadn't already volunteered years ago. We always knew what would happen, that eventually my Spark would be too much for me to handle. I was always meant to return to my Creators… and for that to happen…"

"For that to happen, you would need to die as an organic."

Their conversation came to a halt as Sam began to climb up onto the operating berth that Ratchet had laid Jazz onto as soon as the Autobots new base had been constructed. He'd been watching and waiting patiently for the past month as Ratchet painstakingly repaired the damage caused by Megatron. Today the medic had finally announced that the repairs were completed and in the morning Optimus along with the rest of the Autobots would gather in the med bay and attempt to pull Jazz's Spark from the Matrix using the shard of the Allspark.

It was all well and good in theory, there was only one problem with that; the shard of the Allspark that Optimus had pulled from Megatron's Spark casing had disappeared nearly two months before. And the same night that it had disappeared, Sam had awoken from a dream to find the renewed form of the Allspark held in his arms as he was kept for observation in the med bay after the incident with the Decepticon Seekers. To be honest, he hadn't reacted very well to realizing that the conversation he'd had in his sleep had been all too real, as well as the gradual choices he would be faced with.

Standing on top of Jazz's newly reconstructed form, Sam reflected on all of the anxiety that he'd been feeling for the past two months and chuckled at the fact that now he felt nothing but peace. Here he was about to kill himself and he felt more at peace with it than he'd ever felt about anything in his life. How strange was that he mused quietly to himself.

"We haven't much time." The voice reminded him, reluctant to pull the teen away from his thoughts. "If we are to do this, then it must be now."

"I know."

Kneeling with a heavy sigh, Sam stretched his arms out and held the Allspark over the chest plating that concealed the unused Spark casing of the mech beneath him. He remained unaware of the door to the med bay sliding open, as well as the bulky form of the Autobots CMO rushing in. All he could see and hear was the light emanating from the Allspark as well as the sounds of Jazz's armor pulling back to reveal the Spark casing.

Sam held no concept of time as his body began to lose energy and he started coughing violently, the armor beneath him becoming stained with his blood. In spite of the pain, he felt warm and safe as though he were still at home with his parents, sound asleep in the comfortable security of his own bed instead of being inside the med bay doing something that was supposed to be impossible. A small smile tugged at his lips when the Spark casing began to react to the glimmering ball of blue that was beginning to form.

Sam's breath caught in his throat at the same moment that blue optics came back online beneath the visor concealing them from view. The Allspark disappeared even as the teen clutched at his chest, his breath coming in short gasps as he bit his lip and winced in pain. No amount of warning could have prepared him for the pain of changing from an organic sentience back into an inorganic one.

His eyes fluttered closed for the last time as Sam began to feel the pull of another Spark calling to his own newly released one and he let go. Let go of what he didn't know, all he knew was that to go where he needed to go, he had to let go of whatever was holding him back. Slamming into the beckoning warmth, he registered the shocked surprise of the other Spark as he nestled himself into it snugly.

"Sam! Oh Primus no…"

NcN

Jazz was shifting his feet impatiently as he tried to gain entrance into the med bay against the (for once) rather vehement protests of his bond mate. "Jazz, Ratchet is still attempting to finish the protoform. We will only be in his way should we attempt to enter the med bay. Not to mention that I have no desire to drag your unconscious form back to our quarters when he loses what little may remain of his patience and incapacitates you in the most expedient manner available to him."

"Why doncha jus' say that th' Hatchet'll knock me out with an arc welder?" Jazz asked his bond mate curiously as he stopped fidgeting long enough to meet his bond mate's blue optics. "And what d'you mean _drag_ my offlined frame back to our quarters? What happened to chivalry and all that stuff when your bond mate's carryin' your sparklin'?"

"As you have informed me on numerous occasions since we first learned of the sparkling in question, the sparkling is _ours_ and should not under any circumstances be referred to as solely my Creation." His bond mate replied dryly. "And as for dragging you back to our quarters rather than carrying you; were you not the one insisting that 'you weren't some whiny little femme needin' to be carried around'?"

"So you sayin' that if I was a femme, you'd be carryin' me back to our quarters instead of draggin' me?"

"I refuse to answer as it is becoming increasingly apparent that no matter the nature of my response, you will find some perceived slight in it."

"Ya callin' me irrational now?" Jazz asked in a low tone as he glared at his bond mate from behind his gleaming visor.

"Yes." His bond mate answered with an unusual note of irritation coloring his voice. "You are at this point in time, the most irrational mech I have ever known in the vorns since my Creation."

"I wonder sometimes how you manage to put up with him, Prowl." Ratchet's amused voice came from the entrance leading to the med bay as he noticed the look Jazz was now giving the tactician. "But if you two are done squabbling for the moment, I thought you'd like to see the protoform."

Watching as Jazz all but dashed into the med bay, Ratchet held out an arm to keep Prowl from entering. "I know that he's a handful to deal with at the moment, but just remember that his Spark's got his processor in a mess right now." Ratchet said quietly to the attentive mech beside him. "It's just the sparklings way of saying that its nearly time for it to be introduced to its protoform. Once that's done, Jazz'll go back to normal as his Spark stops sending the confusing signals to his processor."

"I know that." Prowl said in his normal emotionless voice. "It is simply that with all of the recent Decepticon activity as well as the human youngling's…"

"Prowl!" Jazz's excited voice called from inside the med bay. "Get ya aft in here and see the protoform!"

Hearing Jazz begin to talk excitedly to his bond mate as Prowl entered the med bay, Ratchet frowned as he mentally reviewed Prowl's words. Even if the mech hadn't been able to finish his sentence, he knew what the black and white had been about to say. The anniversary of Sam's death; with it being nearly a year since that day, Bumblebee had been acting increasingly depressed around the base. Not even the recent arrival of the twins had been able to shake the yellow minibot from his descent that had begun the day Jazz had been revived at the cost of Sam.

Standing outside of the med bay to give the bonded pair a chance to inspect his work, Ratchet's thoughts turned to the new Spark being carried by Jazz. He wondered if the sparkling would ever know Cybertron, or if he would know only Earth as his home planet. That, Ratchet admitted to himself, was a rather distant possibility considering that the latest reports of Decepticon activity contained a sighting of a fully functional Megatron. The Autobots had tried to keep the Spark's existence a secret, but he knew in his Spark that it would only be a matter of time before Megatron learned of the sparkling and the events behind its creation.

NcN

He missed Bumblebee. That one thought had kept playing through his mind as the months passed. He knew that by now the Autobots would have figured out what he had done and why, or at the very last Ratchet would have and by extension the rest of the Autobots. After all, it was kinda hard to miss seeing a giant glowing cube being held in the arms of an organic youngling. Being where he was, he was forced to face himself and the choices that he'd made while still 'alive'. It was amazing the kind of thinking and reasoning that could be done when you didn't have anything to distract you from it.

The determination and fervent belief that what was being done was the best for everyone had slowly come to be as firmly ingrained in him now as it was then. Occasionally the thought still surfaced that it would have been nice had he been able to make a _conscious_ decision. But deep down he thought (or at least he hoped) that his choice would have been no different, that his actions would have remained the same no matter if he was human or transformer.

Although, Sam thought wryly, it would be just his luck to be the Creation of a pair of Decepticons. But the longer that he spent in the comfortable warmth that was his Creator's Spark, the more he came to realize that his new life would not be that bad. Especially when his Creator would center a feeling of intense love and longing directly towards his still immature form. Poking playfully at the brilliance surrounding him, Sam gasped when he felt a forceful tugging on his very being. Wincing at the unexpectedness of it, Sam's eyes closed in reaction as he realized that his time here was at an end.

Following the tugging sensation to its source, another gasp escaped him when he was flooded with a plethora of questions. Realizing that this was what his Spark had informed him was called a protoform; Sam concentrated on the image of the transformer he could remember seeing in his memories. The sleek blue tipped wings, the slender mechanical form and the blue visor that reminded him so much of Jazz's own. Yawning tiredly once the process was complete, Sam relinquished control to the impatient sparkling that was demanding immediate control and allowed himself to begin the process of melding.

NcN

Stumbling as a fierce wave of dizziness spread through his systems, Jazz was saved from falling to the floor by his bond mate's arm wrapping securely around his waist. "Ratchet." He managed to gasp out weakly as his optics offlined at the severity of the lightheadedness sweeping through him. "I think the sparklin's ready."

"What?" The medic bellowed as he rushed forward, pushing Prowl out of his way as he led Jazz to a nearby berth. "It's too soon for the Spark to be transferred."

"Well, I think the sparklin's idea of ready is a little different than yours Ratchet."

This story incorporates parts of the darker one I began writing in November. It's kinda funny but it all began with a conversation at work about how there would always be things that you couldn't control. And I just had this funny thought of Sparks refusing to be controlled and it just ballooned into this story here. I know that its rather… different, but I still hope someone likes it. If not… well I happen to like it and in then end I think that's all that really matters.


	2. Chapter 2

Winds of Absolution

This is the product of many hours/weeks of debate with myself as I continued to write and change my mind. This would probably have been completed sooner if it hadn't taken me so long to decipher all the notes I'd written while I had a concussion. Many, many thanks go to mmouse15 for helping me to get things straightened out… even if it took me a while to do it.

I hope it was worth the wait.

WoA

He'd spent the better part of a year watching as his bonded's normally jovial emotions began to swing wildly in reaction to the growing Spark he was holding. He'd spent the better part of that time smiling down at his recharging mate as the new Spark would send tingling shocks dancing across his fingertips as he would brush against the revealed Spark casing. He'd also spent the first four deca-cycles of the new Spark's existence as the carrier which allowed him a closer bond most Creators outside of the carrier held.

Standing on the other side of the med bay where he'd been banished to after his 'nervous hovering' had been rewarded with a medical tool being thrown almost absently at his helm, Prowl watched as Ratchet coaxed the new Spark into its casing. Blue optics brightening as he slowly made his way to the berth where the protoform rested the tactician felt his primary fuel pumps stutter when his audios caught the faint sounds of the protoform beginning its preliminary adjustments. By the time Ratchet's gasp reached him he was already in the process of staring down at his sparkling or rather the slender blue tipped wings that jutted out slightly from the adjusted protoform.

Reaching out with a single white hand, trembling fingers curved around the fragile helm of the still offline sparkling. "Ratchet?" Prowl's voice was little more than a whisper as he looked up to find the medic already running scans over the sparkling's small frame.

"Go check on your bonded and let me work." The Hummer snapped as he frowned down at the berth before looking back up with irritation brightening his optics. "Fraggit Prowl! Of all the slaggin' times for you to decide to be as glitched as your mate right now isn't the time! I'll let you know something when _I_ know something! But until then you can trot your aft on over to your bonded and keep his glitched aft on that berth until I say otherwise, are we clear?"

Optics remaining fixed on Prowl only long enough to be certain that the tactician was moving back towards the onlining saboteur, Ratchet turned his attention back down towards his scans wondering where the problem lay. Most sparklings came online immediately following the introduction of their Spark to the protoform; most sparklings never needing any adjustments to the generally accepted and used protoform. **Wheeljack, I need you to drop what you're doing and get down to the med bay now.** He commed the engineer over a private comm. the electric blue of his optics darkening in color as he glanced over to his office where the precious few bits of information he held on Seeker sparklings was stored onto his terminal.

"Prowl you're gonna need to let Jazz know that 'Jack's coming in to give me a hand." Ratchet managed to keep his voice steady as he glanced up to meet the tactician's optics until he was given a curt nod in return. Moving back to the results of the least invasive of the scans he'd run, the CMO wanted nothing more than to retreat to the darkened office lying in the far corner of his med bay. Nothing in his scans matched any of the previously recorded information for those who weren't a part of the rather small portion of Cybertron's inhabitants.

Shoulders twitching in anxious tension as he waited with the greatest amount of patience he could muster, Ratchet felt his hands beginning to dig grooves in the reinforced metals of the berth he was clutching at. His CPU honed to a razor's edge through countless years of experience in tending to the wounded brought to him from the battlefields on both Cybertron and Earth, he raced through the incalculable number of possibilities that could conceivably be preventing the onlining process from either initiating or—

**Ratch, you're gonna have to let me in.** Cursing under his breath at forgetting the fact that he'd locked down the med bay as he'd rushed in at the first signs of the new Spark indicating it had reached a high enough level of maturity to exist on its own outside of the protective enclosure of its Creator's Spark. Transmitting the frequencies needed the CMO started intently at the doors as he waited for them to open so he could begin his dash to the terminal waiting for him in his still dark office.

His bulky frame began moving the nano-klik he was sure the other mech was inside the bay and the doors had closed securely behind him. Answering the engineer's bewildered comm. with orders to let him know if the sparkling's Spark fluctuations changed or if he looked to be coming online, Ratchet darted into his office his hand stretching out to connect his terminal to Teletraan-I.

Absorbing the information as screen after screen flickered through at a rapid pace; Ratchet couldn't hold back the relieved whoosh of air that escaped his vents as the screen containing the needed information populated the screen. Freezing the screen as he began to download the information directly into his memory banks, the medic grimaced as he remembered the fight he'd had with both Optimus and Prowl over the retrieval of the information. Shaking his head to clear the thoughts from his CPU, Ratchet stood from the chair he'd fallen into and made his way back to the med bay more sedately than the manner in which he'd left.

"He's gonna be fine, you two." Ratchet soothed the two Creators staring worriedly at the unmoving frame of the sparkling still resting on the berth they stood beside. "It's a precaution built into the processors of any protoform but most don't remember about it because it's been so long since there's been a Seeker given Spark to anyone but Seeker Creators."

"Ya sure 'e's fine, Ratch?" Jazz asked quietly, his optics dim with the absence of his visor as he leaned heavily into Prowl's side.

Biting back the urge to yell at the pair, Ratchet nodded as he followed the seams along the back of the fragile wings to where they led to a small, nearly seamless portion of paneling. Quietly prying the paneling off to expose the delicate network of wiring and circuitry below red hands reached in to disconnect the portion of wiring responsible for enabling flight capabilities. "He'll be online in a breem." The medic spoke up again when he noticed the two officers leaning forward to maintain a careful watch of his actions as he deftly replaced the paneling. "Just need to make sure his thrusters aren't connected before I can bring him online."

Smiling weakly when steady white fingers covered his own shaking ones, Jazz kept his vocalizer quiet as the Hummer closed the panel before moving to open another in the sparkling's helm. Shifting slightly so he could lean into his bonded more comfortably, the saboteur was reminded of the last time he'd spent time in the med bay with the same amount of fear and agitation churning about in his Spark. But there had been no sparkling lying so unnaturally still on the berth, instead there had been his bonded with his systems threatening to fail. Five cycles had passed before Ratchet's scans began to show even the barest hints of the abnormalities in Prowl's systems that were causing them to glitch themselves offline.

Glancing at the black and white from the corner of his optic as he hastily concealed the smirk threatening to march it's across his faceplates. He was certain that was the first time any of the mechs serving under Prime had the privilege of seeing their CMO at a loss for words. Amongst the myriad of bets that Smokescreen constantly kept track of, the one regarding the events leading to the CMO's eventual bout of speechlessness had been one of the highest bets paid since Smokescreen had started taking bets in an attempt to create some sort of levity in the wake of the twin terrors latest spell of pranks. The bet regarding Ratchet's discovery of Prowl carrying a new Spark had been made after a series of arguments that eventually culminated in his bonded's decision to have his carrier programming disabled until the end of the war. He'd been well through half of his fourth helping of the high grade that the twin's brewed with alarming regularity when the topic had come up and with the false sense of cheerfulness aided with not a little disappointment he'd placed his bet.

Once the new Spark had been discovered and Prowl's carrier programming hurriedly activated, Jazz had rapidly come to the conclusion that perhaps it was all for the best that he be the one to carry any more of their future sparklings. It was a conclusion that was reached after Smokescreen in all of his idiocy came down to the med bay to inform a stunned Jazz in front of an already irritated Prowl that he'd won the bet. It was a conclusion that was reached when Prowl calmly told him that until the new Spark was ready for a transfer between Creators he could stay in Bluestreak's quarters while the gunner remained in the quarters he shared with his bonded. Stopping mid-thought in his ramblings when he caught the hitch in his bonded's intake, dim blue optics glanced down to meet a brightly glowing blue visor.

WoA

"So I gotta be missing something here if I still don't get why they aren't letting anyone see the kid for the next two months." Eyeing the solid pillar of concrete settled next to him, Ironhide wondered if moments like this were why humans were so insistent upon inflicting physical harm to their cranial units. "I mean most people who have kids don't mind the family coming over to get a look at the baby but this is just straight out weird."

"It has to do with certain events that were taking place at the inception of the tradition regarding the amount of time one spends with your progeny before they are introduced to those you would consider closest to you outside of the presence of similar Spark." Perceptor spoke up as he glanced toward the small gathering of humans clustered around an increasingly uncomfortable looking Ironhide. "At the time, Cybertron was in a state of war with the Quintessons and sparklings were considered to be one of the highest of priorities in terms of captures. It was for this reason, that the time period all Creators are given with their sparklings was created and it also remains the sole cause for the programming changes that were implemented in regards to sparklings."

"But why would they want sparklings?" Mikaela asked, distress etched across her face as she worked on the latest in a series of cars that Will and Epps had managed to drive into the ground. "They're just kids."

"It's 'cause they _are_ kids." Epps said grimly, exchanging glances with a suddenly attentive Will sitting beside him on the lumpy couch they'd dragged into the garage. "An' kids ain't the same as adults are. Kids are easier to get ahold of and they make better hostages when you're wantin' someone to do somethin' they don't wanna do."

"That—that's just not right." Mikaela fairly gasped the words as her eyes widened in shock when the two Autobots did nothing but nod in agreement with Epps assessment. "They're kids. You just—you just—it's just not right."

"Yeah, well I think you would have figured by now that some people just don't care 'bout things that should just be left alone." Will drawled, drawing the dark haired girl's attention towards himself as he leaned forward, his forearms resting on his knees with his hands dangling towards the ground.

"How can you even _say_ something like that?" Maggie demanded in a tone of voice that all but dripped of blatant disapproval. "We're not talking about a pet goldfish or something as inconsequential as a grasshopper. We're talking about children and you're—you're—."

"They are correct." Perceptor interrupted the brewing argument, the red mech setting down the box of supplies he was taking to his lab before he'd been interrupted by the insistent comm.'s being sent to him by Ironhide. "The Quintessons learned shortly after they began their campaign that there was precious little that any Cybertronian would not do when faced with a threat to the systemic integrity of a sparkling."

"But—how—why didn't you do anything?" Maggie finally managed to sputter out as she turned indignant eyes towards Ironhide.

"Weren't nothin' we coulda done that wasn't already bein' done. They wasn't lookin' to make a treaty or somethin' with us. They was lookin' to take over and make us all their slaves like they'd done to some of the other systems near us." Pausing in the meticulous cleaning of his cannons as he seemed to stare down at them with a distant look dimming the brilliant blue of his optics, Ironhide's next words were nearly too soft for the humans to hear. "But after the war broke out the 'Cons started using the traditions 'gainst us. Started huntin' down Creators after they'd been seen leavin' the Allspark with a new Spark next to their own. Prowl n' Jazz's sparklin's gonna be the first sparked offa Cybertron. Means a lot to mosta us that they even trustin' us with protectin' them while they're in the med bay with Ratchet."

Noticing the looks of skepticism and confusion adorning the faces of the humans, Ironhide wondered if maybe he'd slipped into Cybertronian without noticing. "If you are mistakenly of the belief that one's choice of faction will automatically generate the type of trust that is required for an event of this magnitude, I fear that you will find your assumptions to be erroneous." Perceptor's vents cycled quietly as he seemed to consider his words before speaking. "Subsequent to the events that led to the instigation of hostilities between those that followed Prime and those that followed the Lord Protector, we were made aware of the actions the Decepticons were taking to ensure they would hold an advantage in terms of sheer numbers. If Prowl or Jazz felt that there remained a single one among our numbers that were incapable of ensuring that they were given sufficient time to escape with their sparkling then they would simply inform Prime and the mechs in question would be sent on a patrol until such time as the sparkling was ready for introduction."

WoA

"There isn't any more time that can be granted to you, little one."

"I know," rosy lips moved with the whispered words as keen brown eyes stared down at the verdant sea of life surrounding him. "I just—I just want to see them. I have to—I have to know that they're alright."

"They lost the only Creation that they were ever able to create, little one." Slim shoulders hunched together as the melodious voice spoke from behind him. "There is no balm for a wound that such a loss will cause. You knew this to be so when you chose as you did. Yet I will tell you as I have told you many times before, this is not the end for any of you. You are my chosen, the only of my own Creations that survived outside of my care."

"I know that."

"Then why do you linger in a place where you no longer belong in the way that you once did?"

"Because I have to." White knuckled from the strain of clenching fists, stormy brown eyes looked up to meet knowing ocean blue. "They might not have been the ones who originally Created me but they cared for me as though they did."

"You can do nothing for them that has not already been given to them."

"I know that!"

"Do you truly believe that or do you say it merely because you know that it is what should be said?" Gentle hands reached out to firmly grip the cheeks of the young man standing in the middle of a well-tended lawn. "Your indecision hurts not only yourself but those who even now worry that they will once again lose you before they are ever truly granted the opportunity to have you."

"I—."

"I am nearly at my limits, little one. There is no more time to be found so that you may be allowed to absorb the emotions that you swept aside." Blurry lips curved into a sweet smile as the speaker swiped away the tears sliding a trail down pale cheeks. "You miss them. I think sometimes that it is so very easy to forget that you are still only a sparkling rather than the youngling you look to be."

"I just wanted to see them again."

"This will not be the last time that you will ever meet with them, little one."

"No. But it's the last time I'll see them as Sam."

NcN

I kept debating with myself about the ending of this before I finally managed to write those last few sentences. I apologize if there is any confusion generated by this but all I can say is to reread the last bit carefully.


	3. Chapter 3

Winds of Absolution

There wasn't much of his early life that he could remember before the war had reached the city-state of Praxus and more importantly his home. And the few things he could remember were nothing more than fragments belonging to a shattered whole that he didn't know how to fix. But that was okay, it was okay because he could still remember the sounds of his Carrier's laughter as she gently plucked the cube of energon from the table where he'd left it after managing to pry off the top that was supposed to be sparkling-resistant. There were also times where if he thought hard enough about it then he thought that he could almost remember the familiar smell that had accompanied her through the dwelling that had been theirs.

Harder still to remember was his progenitor. He held vague, wispy memories that seemed as elusive as smoke in the way that they slipped through his grasp as he tried to examine them. He wanted so badly to remember on his own instead of asking his brother for aid and watching as those blue orbs dimmed with remembered pain from a time before he'd been given to his family by the Allspark. He wasn't nearly as clueless as he knew Prowl wished he was and he was glad that he wasn't because he knew things that others would rather he didn't. Things like the fact that he and Prowl had belonged to the upper echelons of Cybertronian society that Mirage could lay claim to.

What he couldn't figure out was how no else had figured it out yet. It was kind of obvious he thought to himself with a light shrug of his door wings. They were always absent on the same observance days that Mirage himself was but maybe it also had to do with Jazz being there to deflect attention away from them. Okay, so maybe it wasn't so odd considering that Jazz was really good at distracting people when he wanted to and considering who he was acting as a distraction for, it really wouldn't surprise him in the least if those were some of Jazz's best performances. But really, Prowl's battle computer should have been a clue to even the densest of their number because Prowl had been renowned for his battle tactics while he was still climbing the ranks under the Lord High Protector.

Surely they didn't think that Prowl had been able to afford a battle processor of that caliber on his honor alone, did they? Heh, maybe they thought that it was a gift from the Protector before he'd allowed his processor to be corrupted by whatever virus he'd accepted into his firewalls. Prowl had always told him that people believed what they wanted to, especially when the alternative was accepting a truth that they refused to believe. Prowl was… Prowl was always the one of the brothers that understood why people acted the way that they did and why some actions were so stupidly idiotic compared to others. As a sparkling during the few times that his Carrier had managed to sneak him out of the dwelling that they shared with his progenitor, Bluestreak could remember the rarity of Prowl's smiles when compared to his other brother.

Barricade.

Bluestreak really wasn't so naïve as to think that Prowl wouldn't be happier believing that he held no memories of the second of their generation. That he held no memories of the Barricade who would lift him up into the air with gentle movements, his claws turned so as to avoid piercing the thin, fragile sparkling protoform. But he couldn't forget—how could he forget his brother who had rubbed faceplates against his with a deep sadness emanating from every junction of his frame as he wriggled grumpily in his Carrier's arms each time their brief meetings came to an end. The last memory he held of his brother and not of the mech he'd become, was of conflicted red optics staring down at him while he was held close to an energon stained chassis. Later he realized that his brother had fought and killed to keep him safe and had left him in the destroyed Helix Gardens where Prowl had found him cycles later.

Wing flicking behind him as he walked through the hallways of the base leading to the set of quarters that were cordoned off in honor of a tradition that only Ironhide remembered, Bluestreak kept his gaze fixed onto the floor. Hands opened and curled into themselves of their own accord as he moved at an abnormally slow pace, his processor frantically trying to keep pace with the thoughts whirling through him. He'd known that it would happen eventually and he'd really, really known that the arrangement with Prowl and Jazz wasn't ever meant to be permanent but—but he'd hoped. He'd honestly hoped in that small portion of his Spark that he kept hidden away from everyone and at times hid it so well that even he forgot about it.

He wasn't theirs. He wasn't theirs in all of the ways that mattered outside of the obligation that Prowl had felt when he chose to fight Optimus for his custody. He wasn't theirs in the same way that the sparkling was. And if given the choice he knew that he wouldn't want for it to be any other way because for all of the hurt and pain that lurked in his past, he knew that the times of remembering how his brothers had once humored him a sparkling were worth far more than anything he could think of.

WoA

He was tiny, Bluestreak thought to himself as he stared dumbly at the sparkling cradled within the protective sphere of Prowl's arms as the tactician moved closer. Optics focusing as the dim visor began to brighten and the sparkling clicked plaintively for a moment before nuzzling into the grey arm of the mech now holding him, Bluestreak gaped at Prowl. "Wha—why would you hand him over to me? I don't know anything about sparklings. Well I mean I _was_ a sparkling once so I obviously know that much." The gunner babbled as Prowl patiently arranged his arms to better hold the sparkling correctly.

"Ain't no one who _knows_ how t'handle a sparklin' th' first time, Blue." Jazz said good-naturedly as he busied himself with rearranging the veritable nest of soft materials that lined the sparkling's bassinet. "S'why ya got us to tell ya what needs doing' and how t'get th' doin' done."

"But why?" The grey mech asked with hints of panic edging into his tone as Prowl quietly rebuffed any and all attempts at handing the sparkling back over. "I should be out there with the others on shift."

"You are precisely where you are meant to be, Bluestreak." Prowl said as he gently wrapped a well-worn scrap of material around the dozing sparkling. "The tradition calls for those not Spark-linked to the sparkling to remain outside amongst the guard and you are most assuredly not one of those. The wishes of our Creators mattered little to me once I realized that you were alive and I swore an oath upon the Altar of Primus himself that I would see to your care as though you were my own and nothing in the vorns that have passed since then has given me cause to change that."

"We went through the Pit to keep ya, Blue." Visor dimmed as he recalled the earth-shaking arguments between Prowl and Optimus that had preceded the Prime's agreement to allowing the sparkling to remain on base, Jazz pressed the flat of one hand against Bluestreak's trembling arm. "S'like Prowler said, Blue. 'Cept somewhere 'long th' line we stopped treatin' ya like ya were ours 'cause ya were ours an' ain't no one gonna tell us diff'rent cause that's how it is."

"To our sparkling you will be as Barricade once was for you." A deep sadness resonated through the room as Prowl spoke, his door wings quivering with the force of the emotions left unspoken. "Whether there is a True Bond between you like there was between the three of us matters little to me and I will deal with any who dare say different. I do not have so many of our kin left living that I can abandon one like a scrap of metal rejected by the smelter and even were you not my brother I would still refuse to abandon you."

"You kept our Carrier's cloth." Bluestreak said with a tone of wonder in his voice as he absently rubbed one corner of the fabric in between his fingers. "I don't—I don't understand."

White hands gently lifted the sparkling away to place him into waiting arms before sliding over grey shoulders in an embrace as Prowl dropped his helm to rest atop of Bluestreak's. "I will admit that there was much I did not know while raising you but I had not believed that I had left the subject of our relationship so undefined." Arms tightening their hold on the mech in his grasp, Prowl listened to Jazz's humming for several seconds before continuing. "I did not fight with Optimus over the subject of your care only to spurn you once I became a progenitor, Bluestreak. What more must I say or do to prove to you that what I tell you now is true?"

"Why would you… I mean, I'm not even yours." Bluestreak mumbled as he looked down with his door wings sagging behind him.

"You are not mine in only that you were not entrusted to me by the Allspark but in every other way or meaning that could possibly matter you are mine, Bluestreak." Prowl whispered fervently as he cupped the gunner's chin with one hand and gently lifted it up. "I swear to Primus above that you are mine and as such I expect that you will be there for Crescendo as Barricade and I were there for you."

"Promise?"

Prowl's lips twitched into the briefest of smiles. "I promise."

A/N: This is what happens when you let Bluestreak have free rein over a chapter but it's done. Sam now has a name and the issue of Bluestreak's place in the family has been resolved. Once again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed/alerted/faved this story and I hope you continue to enjoy it.


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